The Late Ken Pulliam on the Mind of the Believer

Dr. Pulliam only blogged for about a year before his untimely death in October 2010. But he did have something to say about neurology and the mind of the believer. He reviewed a few important books and studies that I'll link to below:

1) Robert Burton's book On Being Certain (2008). From the flap of the book:

In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we know. He shows that the feeling of certainty we have when we know something comes from sources beyond our control and knowledge. In fact, certainty is a mental sensation, rather than evidence of fact. Because this feeling of knowing seems like confirmation of knowledge, we tend to think of it as a product of reason. But an increasing body of evidence suggests that feelings such as certainty stem from primitive areas of the brain and are independent of active, conscious reflection and reasoning. The feeling of knowing happens to us; we cannot make it happen.

2) Paul Thagard's book, The Brain and the Meaning of Life.

3) A study by four Danish scientists led Ken to say that this "may explain why many Christians truly are brainwashed."

Enjoy them all. Comment back here.